Playoff Series Rounds, Stanley Cup Final Series and Vancouver-Boston Game 7 All set new network highs. On television and on-line, Canadians watched hockey in record numbers this playoff season on CBC.

On air, ratings data from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM) show CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA’s coverage of the 2011 NHL playoffs has shattered all previous records for post-season audiences. From the four playoff series, to the Stanley Cup Final, to the Vancouver/Boston Game 7 showdown, this year’s playoff run truly was one for the record books.

CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA - Stanley Cup Final – Vancouver/Boston*
• Average audience of 6.15 million viewers, up 98% compared to the 2009/10 Stanley Cup Final.
• Marks the highest Stanley Cup Final average since TV metered measurement (originally set by 2004 average of 3.73 million, a difference of 65%).

NEW YORK (June 17, 2011) – On Wednesday night the Boston Bruins captured their sixth Stanley Cup since joining the NHL in 1924-25 and their first championship since 1972. With all the hard work over, it’s time for the team to celebrate their Stanley Cup victory with the entire New England region.

On Saturday, June 18, beginning at 10 a.m. ET, NHL Network™ will telecast New England Sports Network’s live HD coverage of the Bruins’ Stanley Cup victory parade and rally as players and team management salute their fans from TD Garden to Copley Plaza in downtown Boston. The broadcast will be blacked out in Boston where local fans can tune in to watch the event unfold on NESN. NHL.com will also stream the parade events live beginning at 10 a.m. ET.

For fans who might have missed it the first time around, NHL Network will show an encore presentation of the parade at 1 p.m. ET, immediately following the live broadcast.

Do you feel you are getting treated unfairly in Canada based on the last collective bargaining negotiations? Was it uncomfortable to be booed when awarding the Boston Bruins the Stanley Cup?

“I was getting booed? Really? Wait a minute when did that happen? I thought it was like ‘oooooo…oooooo,’ they were so excited to see the Stanley Cup. To answer that question would require me to engage in some degree of whining, which I will not do. The fact of the matter is people sometimes have perceptions to why things do and don’t happen. People who understand what exactly we have tried to accomplish and the fact that most of the Canadian franchises wouldn’t be in Canada anymore if were not for the things we’ve done over the last two decades. They get it. I know the people in Winnipeg over entirely different circumstances than when we left are thrilled to be getting a team back.”

STANLEY CUP FINAL SETS NORTH AMERICAN VIEWERSHIP RECORD
FOR BOTH ENTIRE SERIES AND GAME 7

—Game 7 on CBC in Canada Earns All-Time Best Viewership for NHL Coverage—NBC Sees Best U.S. Viewership for any NHL Game in 38 Years—VERSUS/NBC Combined Viewership Best for Series Including a Canadian Team—Game 7 Earns Huge 43.4 Rating and 64 Share in Boston

NEW YORK – June 16, 2011 – The 2011 Stanley Cup Final, won by the Boston Bruins over the Vancouver Canucks in a dramatic seven-game series, set numerous viewership milestones and records, including the highest North American viewership for any Stanley Cup Final in history – 11.5 million viewers (records go back to 1994). Game 7 of the series led the way, averaging a record 18.3 million viewers in the U.S. and Canada, also a North American viewership record for any NHL game on record.

From a StubHub press release today, these observations about their sales:

• Today, fans have been paying an average price of $3082 per ticket
• Yesterday, that average price was $2413
• The most expensive ticket purchased has been $6500 – 2 tickets each at this price for Club 106 (Row 12), purchased by a Vancouver buyer yesterday

And you could even spend more, if you want. TheFourthPeriod notes this on Twitter:

2 tickets, 2nd row for GM7… $10,345 on stubhub… hot damn.

That’s EACH ticket.

Over at SeatGeek, they’re comparing prices across multiple sellers and see even higher asking prices for the game. Average listing price? $$8,688 per ticket. You can see their seat map here.

NEW YORK (June 14, 2011)—The Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins will face off in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final Wednesday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver (8 p.m., ET, CBC, NBC, RDS), the pinnacle of a series and post-season typified by intense competition, unpredictability, late-game heroics and wild momentum shifts.

Wednesday’s showdown will mark the seventh Game 7 of the 2011 post-season, matching the total from 1994 as the most in playoff history. The home team has prevailed in five of the six previous games and five of the six were decided by one goal.

Regardless of the outcome, History Will Be Made for one club and its passionate following. The Canucks, celebrating their 40th anniversary in the NHL, are in quest of their first Stanley Cup. The Bruins are vying for their first championship in 39 years.

—Below is a pile of notes and stats about game 7s throughout NHL history, as well as the specific history of the Canucks and Bruins.—